Opening one eye experimentally, I was hoping to roll over and sleep for another hour. The precise numbers on the digital clock, which never lied, said 6:00 AM. I could hear Devyn, my two year old grandson, out in the hall. “My shoes hot! My shoes hot!” I smiled at the sound of his footsteps, padded by cotton sleepers, running up and down the hall.

He appeared at my bedside. “Gammy!” He was happy to find someone awake. “My shoes hot!”

I returned his happy grin, and wondered vaguely about the gray haze in the room. One sniff of the air and I came fully awake. Smoke!

Devyn was jumping up and down, tugging at my covers. “My shoes hot!” I grabbed for my robe and followed him down the hall.

As we rounded the last corner into the dining room, the smell of burning plastic filled my nose. Thick smoke billowed from the microwave on the far counter in the kitchen. It was fully involved in flames. The old knotty pine paneling in that part of the kitchen was old and dry. My mind was racing, a jumble of possibilities. Could I get the microwave out of the house before the wall caught fire?

Once in the kitchen my thoughts became actions. Determined to prevent a real disaster, I ran out the back door to the porch, and located the garden hose. Devyn followed me outside, curious about this turn of events. As the hose spewed water at full blast I started dragging the coils toward the kitchen. I caught a glimpse of Devyn’s face, he was clearly impressed with this plan. Bringing the running hose inside the house had been his lifelong dream.

It didn’t take long to completely saturate the microwave and the scorched wood nearby. Roused by the noise and activity, the rest of the family had joined the excitement. We stood in our pajamas, ankle deep in water, grinning sheepishly at each other. Devyn still had one thing on his mind. “My shoes hot?” Inside the melted carcass of the microwave sat one tiny tennis shoe, burnt to a crisp. His experiment had been successful. You could cook a shoe in the microwave. What a mess.

Our plans to eventually remodel the kitchen were accelerated that day. Prompted by the premature demise of the microwave plus the extensive cleanup, we decided that it made sense to get started. Our very first purchase was a beautiful stainless steel Over the Range (and out of reach of toddlers) Microwave.

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